Michael Sevenson
Sir Michael Sevenson is the fourth and youngest noble son of Baron Roland Seven Oaks, and is one of the two co-protagonists of the Knight and Rogue series. Michael grew up on his father's barony with his family. After spending an unspecified amount of time studying that ended when he was seventeen, he returned home to his father's decision that he would become his brother Rupert's estate steward. Michael refused to accept this, saying he wanted to travel, and do more with his life than bury himself on the estate where he had been born. Michael's father proceeded to nag Michael about this plan to travel, asking how Michael intended to support himself, and what he hoped to accomplish. It's likely that Michael wasn't sure of these things, and eventually he said that he might just do some good in the world. His father then accused him of wanting to be "some kind of fool knight errant," and it would seem that Michael's desires were finally put into words for him. He left home the next morning with nothing but a lame horse (Chanticleer), and some pocket change, and set out to become a knight errant, a profession several centuries out of date. Between setting out on his own and the start of The Last Knight, Michael found himself a second horse named Tipple, gained experience doing odd jobs, picked up a squire, and signed on for an adventure in the form of rescuing a woman locked in a tower. Characteristics Michael is taller and thinner than Fisk. He has light brown hair that is generally long enough to be pulled back in a ponytail. He has a scar on his chin from a childhood accident, and scars on his back from being flogged during The Last Knight. At the beginning of Rogue's Home, he received magica ink tattoos on both of his wrists of two broken circles, interlocked like half-opened links of a chain to mark him as unredeemed. Initially he chose not to take care in hiding these marks, having no shame of how he's received them. But by the end of Rogue's Home, he's changed his mind, reasoning that they do not reflect who he really is and leaves people to make incorrect assumptions about the story behind them. Michael is very brave, and proud of who he is, despite the laughs and odd looks he gets when he tells people his profession. He is also optimistic without being unable to see negativity, compassionate without letting people take advantage of him, is almost always noble, and strives to be as honest with others as he can without causing problems for himself and his goals. In the beginning of the series, Michael saw dishonesty as ignoble and intolerable behavior that he refused to take part in, and he was initially very bad at telling even polite white lies. He probably felt that telling lies and deceiving people was no way for a knight to behave. But by the end of the first book, The Last Knight, while he is mostly still a poor liar, he had come to terms with lying as a necessity. As the series continues, Michael grows more and more comfortable with deception, and even the occasional crime, if it helps an investigation and doesn't hurt any innocent people. Likely due to growing up in the country, Michael prefers natural settings over towns and cities. He also prefers to travel, and while he has no problem rooting himself somewhere by his own choice, he has an aversion to the idea of being stuck in one place without other options. While being somewhat formally educated and having no issue with the idea of education itself, Michael feels the idea of being stuck in a classroom to be maddening, surely preferring pursuits and pastimes with more thrill and action. Abilities Michael was born with the ability to sense magica, a Gift for handling animals, and an unreliable ability to know when he's in danger (whether from diabolical plots or being married off to random women). In Rogue's Home, Nettie's Ma also says he "has a gift for truth", and for "seeing what's important", though she may have been speaking metaphorically. After being subjected to Lady Ceciel's experimentation with magica, some of his pre-existing Gifts were enhanced. In addition to being able to sense magica with his hands, he can also see it as a faint glowing golden aura around magica objects. He eventually learns to use his animal handling gift on some humans, which is easiest with the inebriated. His "bad feeling" Gift, so far, seems to be the only one left uneffected. And in addition to the enhanced Gifts, he finds himself able to do a myriad of other things that are of a highly magical nature. Michael has described the feeling when it happens, likening it to a heavy stone slab being lifted off of a container of magic that is then leaks out inside of him. This condition does not allow him to wield magic at will; it seems to be an instinctual reaction, only coming to him in times of great need when he's scared or determined, and appears to answer only to the deepest wish of his heart. It has allowed him to thicken air around him to slow and cushion a fall, push magic into water while fighting a fire and into his horse Chanticleer to help them escape pursuers, and create a bubble of cool, breathable air for him and Fisk to use while searching a burning building for people they could save. Relationships: His squire and best friend is Fisk, a former con artist. They met when Fisk was on trial for con-artistry in a rigged trial. Fisk spent most of The Last Knight legally bound to Michael for the debt he paid to free him. Michael decided to pay Fisk's debt when Fisk helped an old man make it up the stairs to the judicars' platform, because he believed Fisk was a good person at heart, despite his criminal activity. His goal, in making Fisk his squire, was to reform Fisk. His relationship with his mother and father is strained. He appears to be fond of his older brother Benton, but does not seem particularly unfond of either his other older brothers, Justin and Rupert. Michael has a very close relationship with his younger (and only) sister Kathryn Sevenson. He spends a significant chunk of time in love with his cousin, Rosamund, who is also his father's ward. His crush on her began when the two of them were children. After it is revealed in Player's Ruse that Rosamund has fallen in love with another man, Michael spends much of the book putting in latch ditch efforts to finally win her hand, and eventually he is finally forced to give up his hopes of ever having her return his feelings. While Michael probably took his time getting over his feelings for her and getting past harboring jealousy for her betrothed, it's most likely that he still thinks fondly of her.